Danger of Human Traffickers

VIVAnews – On 6 June 2008, a secondary school female student in Lampung, let’s call her Susan, was kidnapped by five masked men. She was drugged and reportedly brought to Jakarta.

Two days later, Susan and three other female victims from West Java,  Helmi, Ana, and Bunda, were brought to Tebedu, Malaysia. The curious thing is despite not possessing any valid documents, the four managed to get through immigration. They were brought to Kuching, Malaysia, and forced to work as prostitutes in a brothel called 'Cong Ling Pa.' 

Given the above case, we have no doubt that the methods used by human traffickers have indeed changed from old tactics of tricking and luring by false promises of better life or escape from poverty to a new mode of outright abduction. The role of village intermediaries or brokers, in selecting and recruiting children for human trafficking, are now being replaced by syndicates who employ agents for kidnapping and abducting the children.

The new modes of trafficking by kidnapping and drugging—often with violence—are rather scary, since the victims are not limited to children or teenagers from poor families. The socio-economic background of the victim is no longer a concern. As long as there is an opportunity, they will kidnap any secondary school students they find. These people select their victims at random.

In the Lampung case, for instance, they kidnapped the victim while she was on her way to school. She was drugged while she was waiting for her bus. Then, the kidnappers quickly brought her and the other victims to Pontianak, West Kalimantan. When the victims arrived at the Malaysian border, they were subsequently sold and forced to work as sex slaves.

There are certain procedures on how to evade the kidnappers. We should advise children and teenagers not to trust a stranger who try to approach them. They must have courage to resist any deceptive schemes designed to lure them. It is far better if they go to school in large groups and not by themselves. In addition, parents should pay more attention to their children. And the school should assume more responsibility by creating a safety zone for children while they are waiting to be picked up by their parents or by conducting a kidnapping simulation for their students.

In other countries, for instance Japan, the governments provide en masse kidnapping simulation to their children. The result is that children become more alert and watchful. We should consider kidnapping as everyone’s problem.

The National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Perlindungan Anak) has already performed kidnapping simulation. Unfortunately, people began to think that such simulation responsibility lies with the commission alone. But the Commission cannot do this across Indonesia by itself. This should top our government’s agenda. The Commission has already sent its proposal to the government, but there is no  positive response thus far.

The real constraint on such issue is quite a cliché: we have no department that is responsible for resolving this particular problem. As a result, all stakeholders point their fingers at each other. We do not have a Ministry for Child Protection. In order to resolve disputes over who  is responsible for child protection, the government needs to create a specialized department responsible for protecting the children.

When the Lampung case surfaced in the media, nearly all government institutions refused to take responsibility. The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration said that the Department of Social Welfare is the one responsible for it. While the latter said that it has nothing to do with it either. If it is not the state, then who else can provide such protection? One thing for sure is we cannot let the parents bear all the responsibility for monitoring their children for themselves. They can’t do it alone.

What we already discussed earlier is just a matter of prevention. We haven’t discussed how we would treat the trafficking victims. We must help them regain confidence and spirit, and heal their trauma. And, again, as expected, people place the responsibility on the Commission. The problem is the Commission’s capability has some limitations.

This new mode of human trafficking, i.e. outright abduction, poses a challenge to the police. They should do everything they can to uncover human trafficking syndicates who victimize our innocent children and teenagers.  

The police should make this case a priority. Think about how many children and teenager whose future is in danger of falling apart. Their families would feel guilty and be ‘stigmatized’ by the people.

Imagine how broken-hearted the parents would be if they were accused of being unable to take care of their own children, while in fact they and their children are the real victims here.

We should enforce the law. In addition to punishing the perpetrators with maximum sentence, we should investigate the immigration officers as well. Children are being smuggled to foreign countries and being sold without documents. How do they manage to pass through the immigration?

Regardless of how perfect the syndicates forge documents, and even if they receive support from the village officials, if our border officers perform their duty properly, then those children will not pass through them so easily.    

Consequently, there needs to be some shock therapy for corrupt officers. Why don’t we arrest the immigration officers who allow the practice of human trafficking? By the same token, there needs to be some punishment for police officers who let such crimes goes unpunished. For shock therapy, why don’t we fire high ranking immigration and police officers who fail to prevent human trafficking?

The police have always maintained that the Lampung case used a new mode of trafficking. Nevertheless, I don’t think it is really new at all. According to the witness, Susan, there were other children in the Cong Ling Pa brothel who shared the same fate as hers, i.e. being victimized and having no documents at all. The kidnappers use the same method of outright abduction with some of them. The only difference is Susan and three of her friends have the spirit and courage to run away.  

Kidnapping for human trafficking is indeed quite new. However, I’m certain that there are already numerous victims. Everyone needs to open their eyes and realize that our children and teenagers are being threatened by human traffickers, whatever method is employed. Each day, the number of human trafficking victims is increasing. We should all be aware.

This article is based on an interview with Aris Merdeka Sirait, Secretary General of the National Commission for Children Protection.

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Translated by: Edwin Solahuddin.